foggy, cloudy sunday

Birthday was awesome. Lots of friends came out to play and it was fun to introduce my different groups to each other. My new year got off to a wondeful start. Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating my birthday!

After being distracted by college basketball (OMG! Hoyas take it in OT!) and a dirty kitchen (now clean!), I'm settling in to do some work. Lots to do this week and I really need to focus to get it all done.

And some environmental news...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301753.html
Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikes

I love the idea of getting more people to travel by bicycle.

More bikes = more drivers used to being around bikes = safer. More bikes = less cars = reduction in greenhouse gas emissions = better for the planet. More bikes = healthier people.

I'm not entirely surprised that the fastest way around Paris is by bicycle. I wonder if the same is true in cities like SF... getting up those hills is NOT very fast by bike!

Interesting example of a public/private partnership! Go business & sustainability!

Some excerpts from the Washington Post article:

By John Ward AndersonWashington Post Foreign Service Saturday, March 24, 2007; A10

PARIS, March 23 -- Paris is for lovers -- lovers of food and art and wine, lovers of the romantic sort and, starting this summer, lovers of bicycles.

On July 15, the day after Bastille Day, Parisians will wake up to discover thousands of low-cost rental bikes at hundreds of high-tech bicycle stations scattered throughout the city, an ambitious program to cut traffic, reduce pollution, improve parking and enhance the city's image as a greener, quieter, more relaxed place.

By the end of the year, organizers and city officials say, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1,450 stations -- or about one station every 250 yards across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere -- particularly in Lyon, France's third-largest city, which launched a similar system two years ago -- regular users of the bikes will ride them almost for free.

...
The Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delano?, has the same aim, said his aide, Jean-Luc Dumesnil: "We think it could change Paris's image -- make it quieter, less polluted, with a nicer atmosphere, a better way of life."

But there is a practical side, too, Dumesnil said. A recent study analyzed different trips in the city "with a car, bike, taxi and walking, and the bikes were always the fastest."